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Trading Ideas: An Interview With Carmen Iezzi

March 2, 2009—Carmen Iezzi is the Executive Director of the Fair Trade Federation (FTF).

Youthink!:  So why's fair trade so important anyway?

Carmen Iezzi: Fair trade makes it possible to use trade as a tool for development and positive change. It's a system of exchange based on partnership, transparency, dialogue and respect. It creates opportunities for marginalized communities—helping them build capacity, paying them fairly and promptly, and protecting local environments and cultural identity. You end up with great products that are affordable, trendy and high quality, and also create a tremendous impact in communities. We've seen health clinics get built and kids go to school with the decisions about what to do taken by the producers themselves. We think this partnership is much more sustainable than receiving handouts or relying on some external organization to come and fix things. If change comes from the community itself, it's much longer-term and much more sustainable.

Youthink!: What is the Fair Trade Federation all about?

Carmen Iezzi: Well, firstly, within fair trade there are 2 kinds of organizations—there are those that certify and label agricultural products, and those, like FTF, who evaluate companies. On the product certification side, the focus is on one specific product, for example a bag of coffee. It traces that bag of coffee from point of origin (so the initial farmer), to point of sale, and it tracks all the different times that product has changed hands.

At FTF we don't trace products from point of origin to point of sale, but we seek to understand the entire way a company operates, and its commitment to the 9 fair trade principles. Some companies may use fair trade as a marketing gimmick or a way to offset unfair practices, but the organizations we support strive to only source products under fair trade principles and have fair trade at the very heart of what they do.

Youthink!: Any stories of how fair trade has impacted communities?

Carmen Iezzi: These are a couple of great cases where farmers and artisans were able to change their lives through fair trade partnerships and relationships.

There's a community in Mexico that had been making jewelry for many years, but then were basically decimated because the market was flooded with cheap foreign copies. A lot of the men in the community left and went to the US to find work. The women decided to take care of themselves; they wouldn't wait around for remittances from their husbands and they couldn't wait around for someone else to help them. So, they organized a cooperative, creating and selling jewelry, and they've been really successful. So much so that many of their daughters went to university and came back to work for the coop—not as jewelry makers, but as business managers and marketing people. Even some of the men came home to work for their wives (which they've told me has an interesting dynamic!). They've been able to really change their community for the better and are in a much stronger position.

Carmen Iezzi

Iezzi enjoys a cup of fair trade coffee.

There's also a coffee cooperative in Chiapas, Mexico that had a relationship with a mainstream commercial coffee company for several years. Even though they were trading with a fair trade label—their coffee had been certified—this mainstream company was squeezing them out and imposing difficult terms and conditions. The coop realized that they were strong enough together that they didn't need to put up with this situation anymore—so they cut ties with the company and said "we know we can be treated better, and we're going to go and seek out companies who will treat us right." From there, they found an FTF member, Equal Exchange who has been buying from them ever since. These are success stories, because empowered artisans and farmers recognize the value of their work and make sure both mainstream and fair trade companies, and consumers too, recognize the value and dignity of their work.

Youthink!: Why isn't everything fair trade?

Carmen Iezzi: I think there are two elements to that. Fully committed fair trade companies are typically really small organizations, and—like any small business—they face challenges of growth and scalability. Also, because they generally work with truly marginalized communities, they face challenges in supplies. For example some FTF members working in India faced disruptions during the recent Mumbai bombings. Supply is challenged by things that wouldn't impact a commercial trading relationship, because the conventional trader could pick up and leave; whereas a fair trade company is committed to continuing with communities that are really on the fringe. These communities are also the first hit when something like a natural disaster or political violence happens.

Youthink!: How can fair trade become more mainstream?

Carmen Iezzi: Consumer awareness. People don't always recognize the options they currently have to choose fair trade and the power they have to make a difference; and, when fair trade isn't available, to just make responsible decisions. There's a lot of confusion as to what fair trade really is.

Youthink!: So we can make an impact by our shopping habits?

Absolutely. From the gifts that we buy to the clothes we wear, to coffee we drink—every decision has an impact. The main thing is for people to ask more and better questions while buying something: "What is the difference between product X and product Y? Where did this come from? Who made this? Who's behind it?

For example, a lot of people don't know this, but in Starbucks if you ask for fair trade coffee—even if it's not on tap that day, they're supposed to press one for you. If consumers ask and ask, and companies see a demand for responsible products, most companies will respond. And that's true in a coffee shop, it's true in a boutique, it's true in your university, it's true at your high school …

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Youthink!: Wow! I just want to go shopping—won't I go nuts if I have to ask a million questions each time?

Carmen Iezzi: There's a middle ground. I don't trace every thread of every garment that I own, but I do try to find out where it comes from and from what kinds of companies. There are plenty of websites out there that talk about from where and under what conditions different companies source their products. It does take a bit of homework. But if people want to understand and maximize the positive impact of what they do, unfortunately a little homework is required. There's a lot of marketing out there from mainstream companies that talks about one fair trade product, without mentioning the other 90% of what's going on in the store. So that's something people need to pay attention to, and, maybe say, "That's so great that you're telling this awesome story about this product on the shelf—what about the product sitting next to it? Tell me its story." And if they have no answer for you, it sets off a warning bell. It's not that a company that only has one fair trade product is bad—that's a good thing—but wouldn't it be better if it had two products or 10, or 20?

Youthink!: What about if you live in a developing country? Is it more likely that whatever you buy will be fair trade because it was made locally?

Carmen Iezzi: It's really hard. I don't think it's any different being in North America versus being in a developing country. If you live in a developing country it's still important to ask questions about the things you buy. "Who made it, and where did it come from, and under what terms…" and all of that. And some people might not tell you, and might get defensive. That's a warning right there!

I was in Ghana a few weeks ago. You'd think, "I'm in the market; there are artisans! Clearly it must be ok to buy this …" but it's not that simple. What often happens is the extremely poor women will come in from the countryside early in the morning and sell to the moderately poor women who are well off enough to have a space in the market. If you do choose an item from the market, you've no idea if that rural artisan even got paid or how what she made relates to the price you were charged. So, it's a very complicated thing. It's important to find out about the trading relationships that go on and how products come to any market.

It's not like one can ever have a perfect understanding of absolutely everything that goes on. The main thing is for people to just do the best they can. Consumers everywhere have so much power, especially when they are armed with the right questions.

Youthink!: Any examples of how this consumer power has made a difference?

Carmen Iezzi: In the 1990s, we saw it with Nike, with the Gap, with Exxon. When big scandals erupt and consumers shift their purchasing, companies respond. Then, all their competitors have to respond as well. A few months ago, when the Gap found out that one of their suppliers in India was using child labor, they pulled the plug immediately. But it took an Observer investigation that got a lot of headlines in the UK, and didn't even register here [in the US].

There are also times when consumer power could make a difference, but hasn't yet. There are literally hundreds and thousands of kids who've been kidnapped and enslaved or sold into slavery on cocoa farms in Cote d'Ivoire. In 2001, chocolate companies voluntarily agreed to work on these issues, but no one held them accountable and, the situation persists. These companies rarely talk about it because they don't want people to look at the chocolate they're eating and ask, "Wait a minute, was this made by a little kid who was sold into slavery?" There are many studies and statistics out there that confirm these terrible conditions, but again, consumers haven't stood up yet and said, "I won't eat your product because of the dirty work that's going on." Many of these companies have offices on the ground, so they could improve the situation, but consumers have not yet demanded that, so, they haven't.

Youthink!: But couldn't this end up hurting some people? Child labor is wrong, but for example when Gap cut off the supplier, didn't it mean that some families lost an income? It doesn't seem like a sustainable solution.

Carmen Iezzi: Two things. First, if adults were offered just and viable economic opportunities to meet the needs of their families, the alleged trade off you describe wouldn't be needed. Second, in the West, when the question of the child labor was brought to the forefront, it was recognized that, as a society, we were better off if children had access to education, security, and safety, and therefore, we had to deal with larger poverty and education issues. The same should apply in this case.

Youthink!: Don't fair trade products leave a huge carbon footprint, since they tend to come from far off places?

Carmen Iezzi: It's interesting; our colleagues in Wales did a study about flowers, comparing the carbon footprint of shipping fair trade flowers from Kenya to the UK versus growing them in the UK. And the carbon footprint was actually much smaller to ship them in from Kenya than to grow them in the UK.

Youthink!: No way!

Carmen Iezzi: It's because of the amount of energy required to grow them. In Kenya, these are naturally occurring conditions, which have to be replicated in the UK. There was a similar study about wine from Chile and South Africa versus wine grown in France, which led to similar results.

Also, because a lot of fair trade products are produced by hand, very little energy is consumed in their production. Even the shipping (and FTF members try to ship by ship whenever they can, so as to minimize flight emissions), ends up having a cumulatively lower footprint than highly mechanized production in a big factory that has to be lit and electrified, where the product is then shipped by plane, and then driven to a warehouse…. Yes, there is some carbon footprint, that's undeniable, but comparatively it can actually be smaller because of the way production's done.

As another example, there's only one place in the US that grows coffee—it's in Hawaii—and importing from Hawaii has a much larger carbon footprint than bringing it in from Mexico or Guatemala. Tea, rice, sugar, bananas—those things don't grow here. Since you have to import them anyway, you might as well bring them in under the fairest conditions possible. And other products typically represent communities and cultures that you don't traditionally see, or techniques you don't traditionally see in your local products. So, many times there doesn't' have to be a trade off between fair trade and local.


Visit the Fair Trade Federation website to learn more and find ideas for bringing fair trade to your school or university.

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